The Gibraltar Magazine

Some of the photographs we have on the cover of the Gibraltar Magazine are superb and
we were lucky enough to get first dibs as it were. So it is with David Parody, he’s just spent
more than five months in the British Virgin Islands on secondment and we get first dibs on
a chat with him about travel, the finance commission and hogs. As an aside it is also David
who supplies our front cover photograph from time to time.

According to David the original name Parody was spelt with an ‘i’ as in ‘Parodi’. “The family apparently are Genoese and no doubt some soldier who was sat in immigration that day wrote down the name with a ‘y’ so it stuck. There are many examples of names being misspelt in Gibraltar from those early days. Born in Gibraltar like most boys he spent his years in the usual educational establishment performing like a seal until ‘O’ level.

“To be honest I hated school,” he said, “I still do and I left somewhat disillusioned by the whole thing.”

I wondered if perhaps he too went to the Christian Brothers school? “Yes I did and I wouldn’t go back.”

He ultimately took further education culminating in a Masters Degree through Durham University. He then went on to become the first Chartered Manager in Gibraltar. David’s work after leaving school was within the civil service working in arrears collecting and income taxes. After some time and experience a job came up at the Financial Services Commission as a Computer Programmer. After six months a new role was offered developing regulatory processes and given his experience he felt he should go for the job which he got. 17 years later, and a number of roles later, he hasn’t looked back.

“The FSC have been brilliant for me, I have loved and continue to enjoy working there. We have a great team whose average age is under 30 years old. We are always trying to attract more young people with an interest in this kind of work. It is different and we provide all the necessary training because it is not the kind of training you can find easily. We need and have young committed employees, a staff of 34 these days from a staff of three in the first few years which included the Chief Executive and his Secretary. Through the hard work our staff have put in Gibraltar has a fantastic reputation and the recent IMF assessment confirmed that standing also on the international stage.” “What was the British Virgin Islands all about?” I asked.

“Well my role now is as the Chief Operations Officer of the FSC after having previously been Head of the Banking Supervision. The opportunity came up to work in the BVI as Deputy Director of Regulation role and experience the way they do things in comparison to us. I was lucky enough to get the job. It was a good experience but I am glad to be back where I belong and to be honest having travelled extensively home is most definitely where my heart is.” David has done some travelling in his time mainly through holidays. “I don’t know if it was some kind of island fever but I have always wanted to travel,” he said.

Travel he has too, from Finland in the Arctic circle to as far south as Cape Town in South Africa. As far east as Cairns in Australia, to San Francisco on the west coast of the USA and
several points in between. “What was your most memorable trip?” I asked.

“Well not necessarily the best but most memorable was seeing the Aurealis Borealis. Memorable because of the sight of these fantastic lights in the northern sky but the downside was I spent seven nights on a frozen lake at -21 degrees C for a couple of hours at a time and the first six nights we saw nothing! Luckily on my last night it happened and that made the frostbite go away.

“The best has to be Bali it is a beautiful place that has a wonderful feel to it. The people are humble yet proud of what they do.” “What about the worst?”

“That has to be Jamaica,” he said. “Why would you want to go to a place on holiday to fear for your own safety? You are only safe in these holiday resorts with the guards but I prefer a holiday where I can move around and experience the culture, sounds, smells and the people without the need for a bodyguard.” On top of all this David has also got a hobby or two up his sleeve.

“I love photography. I bought all the gear and even got into selling my pictures freelance. I’m a person who does things properly, professionally if you like. So it was with my photographs.

The trouble was it became more of a job than a hobby and I couldn’t relax anywhere without taking the camera with me. I eventually put it down and spent the next 12 years having sold my equipment in stasis. I’m now taking pictures again but not selling them, I’m making sure it stays as a hobby this time and I get more enjoyment out of my pictures that way. That’s not to say I wouldn’t sell a picture or two but selling them isn’t a priority and I like it that way.” David’s other hobby is motorbikes. I can almost hear ladies heads droop here and men going ahaaa!

“Yeah this is the place for motorbikes isn’t it?” he said. “I have two — one Suzuki 650 for running around on. It’s like my version of a moped. I also have a Harley Davison ‘Fatboy’, 1450cc of pure joy to ride off when HDC-Gibraltar head off across that border and ride.

“In fact I was one of the founder members of HDC-Gibraltar and by the time you read this we’ll have had our 3rd International meeting and display in Casemates, Gibraltar with some 400 bikes in the display. There are 70 of us in the HDC-Gibraltar and we are always looking for members to join and ride with us like the recent trip to Faro in Portugal.”

David Parody is now happily back in Gibraltar with no further plans to travel anywhere else just yet. Enjoying life back in the bosom of the Financial Services Commission, helping it to get stronger and building Gibraltar’s reputation on the way.

“It’s a great place to be, Gibraltar as well as the FSC. I’ve travelled but I love to come home for me there is nowhere better.”